Archetypes In Between The World And Me

Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me depict similar stories of struggle for meaning in the face of oppression. Coates, as a black man, discovers in Between the World and Me that there is no guarantee his right to life will be respected, and he turns this, and other realities, into lessons for his son to give his life meaning. Frankl, as a holocaust survivor, finds reprieve from his brutal surroundings at Auschwitz in the actions he can control, seeking meaning in his connections with others and discovery of himself. Through their paralleled journeys for purpose, both Coates and Frankl illustrate that oppression, though horrible, often brings one closer to their humanity---and that a life of Struggle has a greater purpose, while a life without does not.

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me has been compared favorably with James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. The book begins with a letter to his nephew which Coats mimics in writing to his son. Themes of ‘Bodies’ related to racial identity, the experience of being black in America, and how to break down racial barriers are very prominent in both books however they vary slightly.

Ta-Nehisi Coates makes his anger with the state of racism and police brutality very clear in every part of his book, even the title. Coates has said that “Between the World and Me” is a reference to the 1935 Richard Wright poem of the same name. The shocking poem depicts a brutal lynching from a first person point of view. Both the poem and the book do not blatantly express the need for revenge or redemption, just a image or stories of a cruel society. However, their

In Between the World and Me, Coates created a very liberating and wisdom-filled experience for his readers. This knowledgeable black man made the decision to pass down his wisdom to his son, Samori, after realizing that his son was disappointed with the verdict of the Mike Brown case. The raw exposure of the realities that a black body faces in society was engulfing, especially with America’s present political climate. I can honestly say this reading piqued my interests with its message, and forced me to face the truth about our country’s blatant disregard for the black body.

During the 18th and 19th century of America, black people were faced with copious amounts of discrimination and prejudice. Slavery has made a huge impact on history and the effect it has on the future. In “Between the World and Me”, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes a personal letter to his son, Samori, addressing the racial injustice black people faced back in the day during slavery and times of discrimination and also explains how it is still an ongoing issue in the world today. He weaves together an intellectual letter to his son, with his main message outlining the influence race has on the notion of privilege and freedom. In America, the black body is often abused physically and emotionally as emphasized in the scene at the movie theater. At the movie theater, a white woman pushes five year old Samori to get out of the way, expressing a strong sense of racial inequality between the two groups. This scene underlines the main message Coates conveys for his son because it accentuates his point about how racism defines your identity and obscures the perception of the American Dream.

Throughout history, stereotypes prove fundamental to recurring societal conflicts. As feminism and the Black Lives Matter movement, among others, arise to create generational connections, prejudice, in turn, demonstrates longevity through clichés that create conflict rather than peace. In the same manner, literature allows conflict to flourish through the use of archetypes. In Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel, Brave New World, the archetype of initiation brings a character into a new realm, whereas the archetype of a fall pulls a character back down to reality. However, both situational archetypes work to fully expose the scope of conflict in the novel. Therefore, archetypal references exacerbate the conditions created by the government in the

One of the many powerful messages in Between the World and Me is the idea of the “dream” or lack thereof for black men and women. Ta-Nehisi Coates is the author and is addressing it to his 15 year-old son. He want his son to know and understand what is happening in the world and why the world may view him differently than other races. The importance of him writing this to his son in his “15th year” (as Coates calls it) is because that is the point in a teenagers life where they began to make decisions for themselves and hang out with friends more. They are beginning to see the world for themselves without much help from their parents.

There is hardly any contemporary literature that touches the essence of racism at its sore spot since most African American literature either accuse the world of the unfair treatments with extreme statements or exhibits their passive aggressiveness and cynical opinions to the mass majority. However, Ta-Nehisi Coates, in Between the World and Me, does none of those things. Instead, the author took this letter as a vehicle to address how it is like to be of the black community, to three groups of audiences, the Blacks, the New Blacks and the Whites, masquerading as one represented by his son. Through the constant shifts of audiences, Coates strives to persuade all to feel the fear and anxiety of his black community instead of living an ignorant

One’s perspective and racism go hand-in-hand with one another. A young black American male from Chicago is going to have a completely different outlook on racism compared to a police officer or a child or a young white American male from the suburbs. It’s all about one’s perspective, and understanding how to react based on what one knows. Empathizing with one another and sharing perspectives is key to help spread ideas and awareness of how much of a problem racism still is. In the book Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, racism in America is the main theme of the book. Coates was a black American male that

The archetypes in my story is the rule of three, nature versus mechanical world, and has a wise old man. These archetype were presented in my story because it was themed off of chinese culture. I believe the strength of my fairy tale is comparing the difference between what to do and not to do in a given situation. I do believe though that if given more time I would had made a better story than what i had right now. The story I have right now is completely different than what I had originally intended to make. I had to scrape the old fairy tale because it didn’t have any true themes like in other fairy tales. The mentor text didn’t really help me except for the tale about the men trying to find life’s truths. Chinese tradition heavily

     There are many archetypical symbols used in hundreds of works, new and old. Some of these symbols include: war, peace, love, nature, birds, mountains, and darkness. These symbols have deep meaning which help embellish a certain work. They also help the reader to better understand the theme or plot of a work. They are used freely and abundantly in most modern and

It was in the middle of the day and my friends sitting in a circle were all giggling and laughing while playing truth or dare. If you received a dare and you failed to complete, you would have to take a bite of guinea pig food. It was my turn next. I had one of the worst dares yet and I could just not do it. So my friend got a spoonful of guinea pig food and we all went to the bathroom. I just sat over the toilet in a dark bathroom crammed with all my friends staring at the spoon. I finally took a small bite and immediately purged it all back up. We all started laughing. I can say that is one thing for certain and that is I will never do that again.

Often as citizens who are comfortable in our environments and experience privilege we often forget that there are others around us who are not as fortunate or people that live very different lifestyles from us. In Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates writes a letter to his son expressing a sense of fear and a warning of the world that he will soon experience on his own. As he looks around and sees what is going on in the World he can’t help but think about how unfortunate it is and a wave of fear as he recalls back to his own memories growing up. How difficult times were and how he never truly felt as if he belonged on had a place wherever he was, except when he was around people similar to him. It is as if something was between him and the world, which I think we can relate to today’s society,

Archetypes originated from a theory devised by the Swiss psychologist, the basis for his theory was “based on the idea that the key to psychological adjustment and growth lies in making unconscious material conscious through hypnosis, active imagination (free association and guided imagery), and dream interpretation” (Mackey-Kallis, 2016).

Racial inequality has been present for longer than it can be dated; however, the gruesome way it has impacted its victims, and the remainings left in one’s life are not properly accounted. The reasons for racial prejudice is uncertain, and skin color it is not justifiable, though the different class levels and the association people make between social status and skin color are some of the sources that unfairly divides people. In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates explains to his son, in the format of a letter, the real struggle of being black in a place of privileged that knock down people’s rights and destroy black bodies, if not physically, emotionally. He also introduces the “Dreamers,” American citizens that blindly buy the idea of the American Dream - for many times at the expenses of black citizens - and live by misconceptions of their reality. Ultimately, the true contradiction lies upon a country that celebrates freedom but chains some citizens to their skin color, and others to an ignorant mentality.